Lev Polugaevsky
Lev Abramovich Polugajewski (Russian Лев Абрамович Полугаевский, scientific transliteration Lev Abramovich Polugaevskij; born November 20, 1934 in Mogilev; † August 30, 1995 in Paris) was a Russian- Soviet chess master and counted in the 1970s and 1980s at the World Cup candidates.
Lew Polugajewski spent his school and university in Kuibyshev, where he was enrolled in the 1952-1957 Industrial Institute in the Department of Industrial thermal energy economy. He completed his studies with the degree of engineer. His passion, however, was the game of chess, which he had learned as a 7 -year-old. At age 12 he joined the chess section in the urban pioneer palace and had earned as a 18- year-old the title of Master of Sports. As early as 1953 he drew the attention of the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik up, who certified him in a publication great talent. In 1956, he played for the first time at a USSR championship and shared the 5th - 7th Place with Ratmir Cholmow and the future world champion Mikhail Tal. His breakthrough came in 1962, when he second behind Boris Spassky was in the USSR Championship and was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE in the same year. Polugajewski was three times USSR champion: 1967 ( shared with Mikhail Tal ), 1968 ( he defeated Alexander Nikolayevich Zaitsev down fight with 3,5:2,5 ) and 1969 ( shared with former World Champion Tigran Petrosian ).
In 1970 he played for the first time in a Interzonal ( Palma de Mallorca), but could not qualify for the candidates tournament (9th - 10th place). In his next participation in Petrópolis in 1973, he shared the 2nd - 4th Space, which later to become a playoff result had. This was held between him, Efim Geller and Lajos Portisch in Portorož. Portisch and Polugajewski qualified for the candidates fighting. In the quarterfinals, 1974 Polugajewski met Anatoly Karpov, the smooth defeated him with 5,5:2,5 and a year later, according to Robert James Fischer's withdrawal from chess world champion. 1976 Polugajewski again qualified for the candidates fighting. He was together with Vlastimil Hort Second Interzonal of Manila. In 1977 he defeated in the quarterfinals of the Brazilian Henrique da Costa Mecking with 6,5:5,5 ( 1, -0, = 11) and met in the semifinals on Viktor Korchnoi, the ausschaltete him with 8,5:4,5. Interzonal in Riga in 1979 Polugajewski got to second place and was again present at the candidate. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Mikhail Tal with 5,5:2,5 ( 3, -0 = 5) and met again on Korchnoi in the semifinals. Again, it was not possible Polugajewski to prevail against him. He just going down with 6,5:7,5 ( 2, -3, = 9). He took to the interzonal tournaments in Toluca in 1982, Biel / Bienne in 1985 and in 1987 Zagreb in part, but not more, he managed to advance to the candidates.
In addition to the qualifications for the World Cup Polugajewski won a long series of successes at international tournaments. The most valuable victories were Mar del Plata in 1962 and 1971, Sarajevo 1964, Beverwijk 1966, Amsterdam 1970 and 1972, Solingen 1974, Sochi 1976, Wijk aan Zee 1979, Manila 1982, Biel / Bienne 1986 and 1989, Haninge in 1988 and Reykjavik 1990.
He also took part in seven Chess Olympiads. 1966 in Havana, 1968 in Lugano and 1970 victories, he won the Soviet team gold medal, and at the Chess Olympiad 1978 in Buenos Aires the silver medal. 1980 in Valletta, 1982 in Lucerne and 1984 in Thessaloniki again it was gold. 1966, 1968 and 1978 respectively, he scored a silver medal in the board vote.
With the Soviet team, he won six times the European team championships, namely the European team championship in chess in 1961 in Oberhausen, as well as the championships in 1970, 1977, 1980, 1983 and 1989. During the board vote, he won three gold medals (1961, 1970 and 1980 ).
Polugajewski, who had worked as a coach and Sekundant of Anatoly Karpov during the world championship fights with Viktor Korchnoi, began to work more in this direction after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1989 he moved to France, where he coached French player, including Joël Lautier. Polugajewski died of cancer in Paris in 1995 and is buried in the famous Cimetière du Montparnasse, near the tomb of Alexander Alekhine.
Polugajewski, who was considered one of the greatest theoreticians of the Sicilian Defence has made a major contribution to the study of this opening. According to him the Polugajewski variant is named in the Najdorf. It arises after the moves 1.e2 -e4 c7 - c5 2.Sg1 -f3 d7 d6 3.d2 -d4 c5xd4 4.Sf3xd4 Ng8 - f6 c3 a7 - a6 - 5.Sb1 6.Lc1 - g5 - e6 e7 7. f2 - f4 b7 - b5.